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Is It Burn Out? Is It Frustation? Is It Unrealistic Expectations?
I have been seeing a lot of blogs about "burn out". But as the poster describes it, it sounds more like frustration or in some cases, sour grapes.
That is not to say that frustration can't lead to burn out.
But classic burn out? Do you really know what it is?
If you do, then describe it here for me.
Because I have been involved-heavily involved-for twenty seven years and I guess I haven't had it.
And when I see people with 6, 7, 9 years talking about "burn out", I have to wonder.
That is not to say that frustration can't lead to burn out.
But classic burn out? Do you really know what it is?
If you do, then describe it here for me.
Because I have been involved-heavily involved-for twenty seven years and I guess I haven't had it.
And when I see people with 6, 7, 9 years talking about "burn out", I have to wonder.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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Easily contributed to a firehouse that runs a zillion calls versus a firehouse that may run 120 FIRE (non EMS) calls a year perhaps?
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Last year was not one of my better years, all things considered. Between personal and family health issues and some grisly accidents I was pretty stressed going into the holidays. In early December I was depressed and wondering how much longer I was going to stay in the business. In fact, I started a blog on this subject but never posted it.
Then, a week before Christmas I took the call for an 11 year old involved in a sledding accident. After a thorough evaluation I guessed skull fracture, and called for the helicopter to transport the youngster to the city. Last week I found out that I guessed correctly, that the pt. had spent the holidays in the hospital but was home and expected to make a full recovery.
I could not have felt better if I was given a million bucks!
I'm reminded of the baseball manager counseling the player: "Son, you're only as good as your last home run". The point is, after a few bad calls we all tend to get feeling down. It takes a "good" call or two (child birth, rescue, quick knockdown, etc.) to get pumped back up again. Also, there's often little if any feedback about how you did at a particular incident; you do what you need to do, and go on to the next one. Some people can do well without the feedback, others can't.
The first fatality I saw in the fire service really threw me for a loop. I wasn't exactly a youngster and had seen dead people before, but it was the first time I was confronted with sudden death. With it came the realization that it could happen to me also, at any time. Also the eternal questions of "why this person, why not me?" and "why did this happen?" After a few months I internalized the experience, learned from it and moved on.
It could be that the bloggers and posters talking about burn out are merely in the middle of the adjustment process. Or it could be frustration at not being able to save someone - after all, that's what we train for, right? Or maybe feeling unappreciated despite the vast number of hours spent training and responding to calls.
Or, unrealistic expectations: We train and train to go into a smoke filled structure, search for and rescuing dummies, getting ready for the real thing. When the "big one" comes in nothing goes the way we thought it should. New medics (I speak from experience) feel like they can save the world and everyone in it, only to be taken down a few notches when reality hits.
I'm rambling here, but - if you are not feeling good about this business, let's talk about it.
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Oh no, it was great Ed, just a lot of five dollar words in there...
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Permalink Reply by mike wright on
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Some people just take on to much all at once and cant handle the extra load on their shoulders. This creates alot of tiredness and can be mistaken for burn out. They should just take a step back and look at their work load.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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We hear so much talk about finding a "balance" between your time spent at work and your personal time.
If, in the life of a volunteer, let's say, your volunteerism kicks in during that time away from work and cuts into your personal time, are you already "out of balance"?
In the case of career, you are trying to move up in rank and you spend your off duty days working in the trades and are taking college level courses for that eventual promotion, is that adding an extra burden that may be contributing to a feeling of burn out?
Or as has been mentioned in this discussion, is it the number of runs that your crew makes during a shift? I mean, in the FDNY, most everyone that has spoken on the subject has indicated that the goal is to get on with the busiest stations in NYC.
So, how prevalent is classic burnout in today's fire service? Is much of what we are seeing contrived or real?
And on a percentage basis, what is your best estimate on the fire service as a whole?
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Again trying to make a point. According to your profile, you are on Clover Township IL. Took a little doing (cross referencing) but I came up with this stat. "As of 2007, Clover township's population is 968 people" (google websearch of US Census Info)
I can't imagine in a township of less than 1000 people your department runs 1000 calls a year. The volume of calls can lead to some burn out. Family life and issues contribute to this as well. (hell lets be human and call it stress.) All I am simply stating is you can't say you have been doing this for 27 "heavily involved" years and haven't experienced burnout without having served on a department that has at least 500 calls a year. (In my case my volly dept ran 503 calls last year 0 EMS) I am not burnt out, but I also control my own fate in the department. I thrive on learning new things. I love being able to say I was part of a team who succeeded in saving the house, or a life. Simply put, who are we to judge what qualify's someone to consider themselves "burnt out" Until we can stand in their shoes and read their minds, we have absolutely no right to prejudge anyone.
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everyone has their own idea of burn out what you call it dont mean it is the same thing to me. Why cant the term burn out be just a generic term of getting tired. We all have different things going on in our lives. So between home, work and fire department all of our stress levels are different. Some people have a harder time dealing with it all and they need to step back and take a breather.
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And on a percentage basis, what is your best estimate on the fire service as a whole?
What the hell are you trying to achieve with this open ended question? You try to get added imput by implying that FDNY guys try to get on the busy houses (in some cases very true) but you neglect the fact they are PAID. Most burn out occurs in the Volunteer world. (although some is existant in paid houses) Look around for some stats and tell me the divorce rate in firefighters households.
When you step back and look it is easy to see how you can be burnt out. Balancing your kids, wife, full time job, plus the ever demanding tasks of training requirements, and making calls (again keep the mind set of a busy house) and realize your job is the only one which can release you from your financial stress (face it the economy is in the crapper). STRESS STINKS, and some have the ability to cope with this stress, and some don't.
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I almost forget other recreational activities, and also a workout schedule to maintain our physical fitness level.
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I'm not judging anyone. I am trying to conduct a discussion. Have I said that call volume, small departments, big departments or anyone's profile causes or contributes to "burn out"?
No.
I fail to see your point.
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Again, I am searching for opinions.
And FDNY guys are no different than Chicago, LA, Phoenix or going from volunteer to career.
They do so to get to a bigger call volume.
Don't stress out over this.
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My wife and I discussed this at breakfast this morning. We've been describing her present status as "burned out" so we decided to explore it some.
With 26 years in as a Firefighter/EMT she made these observations:
- It's not the bad calls that have happened over the years, because debriefing and discussion afterward helped her deal with it. (And she has seen some bad calls; one of her first as an EMT was suicide by shotgun, with the pt. conscious and breathing and talking until they reached the ER.)
- Being well into middle age MAY have something to do with it...
- The lack of feedback or follow-up after a call is a problem. After so many years of doing the same thing to different people, it's like pitching sand into the wind. Ninety-five percent of the time we help someone, then never find out what happened to them. A brief chance merting at 3 AM, we do our thing, then move on. Knowing the final outcome can be huge, as I stated before.
- The biggest factor, which was a surprise to both of us, is the fact that EMS has changed a lot in the last several years. Now, each and every patient care report is carefully studied and critiqued to discover the chinks in our armor, the things we didn't do at the 3 AM call that we needed to do per protocol. Ten years ago there was much less pressure, we let our training guide us and we looked to each other for review. We are being held to a much higher standard of performance than ever.
This last bullet is a biggie: After every call, it's not what a good job we did, it's how bad did we do? QA/QI is very big these days in EMS, and for good reason. But it's a double-edged sword. We know the armchair quarterbacks will red-line the PCR copy for our "learning and growth", while at the same time destroying our self confidence and motivation.
I'm not sure this fits the classic definition of burnout (or burn out) but should serve to illustrate a case where the term is used. And it has definitely helped my wife get in touch with the real root cause of the problem. Hopefully it will help others too.
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